christie finally meets his idol. new jersey's most famous resident, the man he has seen in concert more than 100 times. the governor and the boss, bruce springsteen. they're friends now. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] take dayquil... [ ding! ] ...and spend time on the slopes. take alka-seltzer plus cold & cough... [ buzz! ] ...and spend time on the chair. for non-drowsy 6-symptom cold & flu relief. take dayquil. use nyquil d... [ ding! ] ...and get longer nighttime cough relief. use alka-seltzer plus night cold & flu... [ coughs ] [ buzz! ] [ screams ] ...and you could find yourself... honey? ...on the couch. nyquil d. 50% longer cough and stuffy nose relief. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your scree

the heritage foundation. joining us now for our wake, goldie taylor, ron christie, who is a republican strategist, both with me here in new yorkened a dr. james peterson, an associate professor at lehigh university, a regular contributor to thegrio.com. welcome to all of you. ron, the gop has announced a new party, quote, grow the party and win. how effective will it be when the only recognizable names are ari fleischer and haley barbour's nephew henry who believe the polls are skewed against mitt romney. >> i don't agree with that. i think politics is about addition not subtraction. we did a very bad job with outreach with people of color, we alienated college educated women, the gay vote and the hispanic vote. if the republicans are serious about growing as a party and about moving forward not only for 2014 but the presidential election, we need to grow and expand our base and we didn't do it this time. >> when the election was in process, why were you not standing up and condemning publicly some of the things that were repeatedly being said that were mildly racist, delibe

polling. >> what do you think it was? was it the getting together with governor christie and that great show of bipartisanship? was it the fact that your side couldn't push the benghazi issue that they were pushing for some weird reason before that? what changed the last week for obama? >> i think sandy changed it a little bit. they let the president be president. i think it helped. >> i would also say this race was more of a referendum in some way on mitt romney than it was the president and that's unusual. >> did your side -- i know you're a true believer and i respect that. i mean it. do you think they didn't really believe he believed? >> no, i don't think that was the problem. i think the bigger problem was two things. they never personally connected with him. they never felt this attachment and didn't see him as this person. that's his personality. secondly, i think we failed midd middle-income blue collar voters who feel we no longer understand their daily life and that we think it'sal about the social issues and fighting the tax breaks for the wealthy. >> i know. my dad's

. recent poll says booker would get pummeled by christie by 50 percentage points. one potential siren who has more fame, ashley judd, the kentuckian is exploring a bid against senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. she wants to follow al franken, the arnold and ronald reagan. she's a mainstay at university of kentucky games and her family goes back eight generations in the state but working against her in red kentucky she's been active in liberal causes like fighting aids, abortion rights and environmental matters. if she runs against the five-term mcconnell expect the hollywood liberal to be uttered frequently there. herman cain to unseat saxby chambliss. chambliss is open to leaning away from the grover norquist anti-tax pledge. cain says he won't run but there's plenty of time. >> the poll looked at a number of other people against saxby chambliss and they lost to him. it was only herman cain. >> who stood out. >> oh, that would be interesting. >> it will be good headlines for us no doubt. >> indeed, thank you so much. good to see you and of course there will be lots of good

on the political fallout. howard dean on chris christie's big decision on the obama care exchange. and apple's ceo breaks big news to nbc's brian williams. >> next year, we will do one of our existing mac lines in the united states. >> tonight, a story of economic patriotism in an era of bain capital with e.j. dionne. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the reality of the election is start to set in on members of the republican party. republican senator jim demint of south carolina is leaving capitol hill to become president of the heritage foundation. don't cry for demint. the out-going president of the heritage foundation made $1.1 million according to 2010 tax filings. demint will do just fine. it's not just about the money. the senator realizes he could be more effective for the conservative movement if he's not attached to the dysfunctional party known as the republican party. in a statement, demint said "i'm leaving the senate now but i'm not leaving the fight. i've decided to join the heritage foundation at a time when the conservative movement nee

. >>> and jon stewart tells chris christie to his face that republicans only like government when it's good for them. the same day christie vetoes health care exchanges in his state. governor howard dean joins me next, next. and republicans are pushing south carolina governor nikki haley to make the right choice to replace jim demint. will she pick right or far right? that's coming up. [ male announcer ] we all make bad decisions. like say, gas station sushi. cheap is good. and sushi, good. but cheap sushi, not so good. it's like that super-low rate on not enough car insurance. pretty sketchy. ♪ and then there are the good decisions. like esurance. their coverage counselor tool helps you choose the right coverage for you at a great price. [ stomach growls ] without feeling queasy. that's insurance for the modern world. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or call. secondhand smoke affects everyone's health.tate. it's not just irritating. it can cause heart disease and even death. speak up about secondhand smoke. your health and the health of your family depend on it. gives you 1%

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christie to his face that republicans only like government when it's good for them. the same day christie vetoes health care exchanges in his state. governor howard dean joins me next, next. and republicans are pushing south carolina governor nikki haley to make the right choice to replace jim demint. will she pick right or far right? that's coming up. capella university understands businesses are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu [ traffic passing ] ] ♪ [ music box: lullaby ] [ man on tv, indistinct ] ♪ [ lullaby continues ] [ baby coos ] [ man announcing ] millions are still exposed to the dangers... of secondhand smoke... and some of them can't do anything about it. ♪ [ continues ] [ gasping ] >>> with t

whether he plans or not plans to challenge governor chris christie next year. >> i am absolutely considering running for governor as well as giving other options some consideration. >> if you decide not to run for governor, is there any chance you might run for another office, say senate, for example? >> yeah, i'm actually looking at that a lot as well and trying to give back because life ultimately is not about a position it's about a purpose. my purpose that i try to focus on every single day is how can i make a difference in the world around me and the community around me. i'm really thinking about both offices right now and which one can i better serve on the issues that i'm passionate about and the things i feel driven to contribute to. >> as a member of the media, please, please run. >> christie already filed the paperwork to run for re-election. he has record high approval numbers. it could be an uphill battle for booker as a recent poll shows that over 60% of registered new jersey voters, that's mostly a democratic state, says he deserves to be re-elected. >>> turning to

. >>> cory booker says he will decide whether he will run for senate or against chris christie for goof nor. christie's approval rating is over 60%. >>> washington state same sex couples began having weddings yesterday. >>> former presidential candidate mitt romney and his wife ann went to the manny paciao fight yesterday. he said, i ran for president and i lost. >>> the best quotes of the year. he has mitt romney's comments on the 47% as number one. number two was, can you guess? binders full of women. president obama got the third spot with his you didn't build that. >>> a petition on the white house website called for congress and the president to forfeit their pay and health care benefits until the fiscal cliff crisis is resolved. the petition has gotten more than 11,000 signatures but 25,000 are needed to get a white house response. >>> president obama will have a private swearing in from justice john roberts on sunday, january 20th. the next day will be the official ceremony and the president's inauguration has decided to start accepting corporate and private donations this time t

divide, the paul ryans and chris christie and bobby jindal? is it really that real divide with the very conservative wing of the party? and if either case, how do they bridge that divide moving forward? >> i do think there is a need to talk to america differently. maybe it is generational. i feel like i span that generation where i find myself now older than a lot of new republicans even elected officials right now -- >> they have the 80s class in now. >> i don't know how i became old but i have. but it does need to be a shift to new republicans. there a lot of them out there. frankly i'd love to see the media talk to a lot of new republicans, the jeb hencerlings and paul ryan and bobby jindal and marco rubio, a lot of strong, younger voices in the party i would like to see more on. i turn on the tv and see newt gingrich back on tv. he hasn't been a republican leader in about 16 years. that's a long time. we need to shift and hear some of the newer voices in the party. >> i have to say just because you have some gray hair doesn't mean you can say those things. this isn't just about

governor chris christie is at the white house asking for more aid in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. the president is going to ask congress for $50 billion. new jersey and new york will no doubt want a big slice of that but disaster relief is being held hostage by the fiscal cliff. how much pressure does this additional pressure put on republicans, seeing chris christie show up at the white house knowing that he needs money for his hard-hit state? >> it's a tremendous amount of pressure. part of what the strategy of think of what we're see hearing is the republicans are becoming increasingly isolated. you think about the discharge position. essentially even if they don't sign on to it, the point is they're going to own this mess. they're the ones who are seen to be, as the public suggests, not willing to make a deal. it is not unreasonable. we've all seen those horrifying images from the devastation of hurricane sandy. it's not unreasonable the governor of the state of new jersey would come and say i need help. americans are going to see that. they see the republicans becoming incre

. walker. christie out of guarn teen and jeb and the up and coming senators like kelly ayotte. ted cruz from texas. >> bret: susana martinez. >> exactly. a loa lot -- long and inspiring list of the few leaders with ide log call energy and intellectual depth. economassuming our economy is sl around is going to mark an open seat. since 5953. with -- 1953, one party held the white house for two term, they have been kicked out. the one exception is reagan reagan-bush. calendar of history is you get two terms. the other guy will come in. this is a prize and it will bring out, i think, the best young leaders. >> bret: right now, people are tired of the election. but about the messaging and from the speeches did you hear a framing of a new conservative message? >> yes. in a sense the return to old conservative message. but i expect to hear reform conservative a bit in the coming years. what sets apart the people that charles mentioned, particularly these two fellows is the fact that they came to washington -- they ran for office to do something and get stuff done. the republican party have peo

famous call he had with governor christie. rap superstar jay-z came out to support president obama as well. rocker kid rock introduced paul ryan and rallied the crowd. and who can forget meatloaf's version of the incredible "america the beautiful "while standing next to mitt romney. election day is the moment to celebrate the winners in politics. but for musicians, the big night is the grammys. the list includes familiar stars like kanye west and adele and maroon 5. there's one category that really caught my eye. it's the one for best spoken album, which includes audio books as well. check out the nominees. first lady michelle obama. she's nominated for her book, american grown. but look at her competition. it's former president bill clinton. he's nominated for his book "back to work." my colleague and friend, rachel maddow was nominated for her book "drift." incredible. but i'm disappointed. there's some serious snubs this year. i mean, how did this fellow performer not make the list. ♪ >> that deserved something. and mitt romney's tough year just got tougher. look at this snub. â™

chris christie finally meets his idol. the man he's seen in concert more than 100 times. the governor and the boss, bruce springsteen. they're friends now. this is "hardball," the place for politics. approximate nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. >>> in the costliest presidential election in u.s. history, the 2012 race saw not $1 billion, but $2 billion spent. president obama and mitt romney each raised over a billion dollars a piece, and that's just the campaigns and party committees. the obama camp raised $1.123 billion while the romney camp spent $1.019 b

christie versus jindal versus cruz. have the new darlings of right learned anything from the mistakes of 2012? maybe. we'll discuss ahead on "now." ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. >>> last week, 200 fast-food works are went on strike in new york city, calling for $15 an hour and the right to unionize. the protests, organized bay group called fast-food forward, draw attention to low-wage jobs. according to the atlantic, borough of labor statistics estimate 7 out of 10 will be low wage fields. nationally, fast food workers earn $8.72 an hour, or a little more than $18,000 a year, according to the bls. to put that in perspective, poverty line for a family of four is over $23,000, according to the census bureau. contrary to popular

urged chris christie to run, as well. >> i think what we're seeing here is that we understand and view and judge fox and murdoch by an entirely different metric. >> right. >> tina witness as you said, they are over they political therefore those of us who see them don't expect neutrality. if a legitimate noose organization did this, no one would survive this sort of behavior. >> fox will call "the new york times" biased, but you will never see the editor of the new york times trying to get hillary clinton to run against barack obama. >> you might see michael bloomberg do that, but that's a separate issue. what would happen no the head of a news organization said i'm going to bank roll your political campaign and didn't tell anybody in the public about that? >> this is what roger ails would like to exploit on fox news. the bottom line is that the two parties are not opposite equals. it's not just because the republicans do it, therefore democrats do it. that's just not true. these stories really bring that home. >> we have always believed that there are two separate silos. you have

announcer ] cook, meet compliments. get recipes at flavorboost.com. >>> chris christie comes to washington and the end of the 2012 election. the romney campaign is still touting numbers. this was not an accidental spam e-mail that got released into your inboxes. they sent out a release saying the romney effort raised over $85 million from october 18 to november 26. romney's chairman, quote, romney's victory continued strong fund-raising. every dollar raised was put to use in the effort to elect mitt romney. they have a bunch of money left on hand. it is about trying to make sure when you have cash on hand you know it wasn't used. it wasn't his fault. romney's top strategist says sandy hurt them the heartest. after the storm, i never had a good feeling. not that the storm impacted things so much, per se, but these races, a race like this, is a lot like an nba game. it's all about ball control at the end. as he notes, they didn't have control of the message are or the ball. new jersey governor chris christie met with president obama face-to-face for the first time since the two to

electoral votes in states they lose. >>> new jersey governor chris christie finally meets his idol. the man he's seen in concert more than 100 times. the governor and the boss, bruce springsteen. they're friends now. this is "hardball," the place for politics. from our 4,000 television commercials. yep, there i am with flo. hoo-hoo! watch it! [chuckles] anyhoo, 3 million people switched to me last year, saving an average of $475. yeah, i'm kind of a big deal. [sigh] it feels good to help people save... with great discounts like safe driver, multicar, and multipolicy. 731, 732... you want my number, don't you? call 1-800-progressive right now. or visit progressive.com for an extra $50 online savings. thirsty? 'cause i got a six-pack right here. oh, yeah... [voice shaking] you don't even have to wait for your policy to expire to switch. oh, svetlana, that's so good! and, with every policy, you get great service. a-down the hizz-atch. [slurp!] so call me today. you'll be glad you did. cannonbox! [splash!] i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those

michigan the 24th right to work state in the nation. >>> chris christie explains his change of heart of president obama. check out what he told jon stewart on "the daily show." >> people have different skill sets at different times. >> so he wasn't a leader until you needed leadership? >> maybe until he was presented with a stark opportunity. >> "thursday night football" the denver broncos beat the oakland raiders 26-13. that's eight straight wins for the broncos. one sad note. a fan fell from the top deck of the coliseum during that game. he is hospitalized and he is in serious condition. it's a dreadful thing. >> certainly hope he can recover. that's terrible. >>> let's turn and talk about a story we chatted about yesterday. the cover story for "time" magazine. we were talking about it and that was the picture. that's the commissioner talking about some of the ways he was hoping to reform the sport of football so it has less of a toll on the athletes. among the ideas on the table were doing away with kickoffs, which are seen to be one of the most dangerous elements of the game. it's o

embarrassing tv show ask chris christie what lucky's had with skwrers ra jersey shore. that's what reality tv does. on the other hand mockery is mockery you can always find dopes in any community. you hear a lot of complaints from southerners how they are portrayed in the media, they are always dopey, how kwra y'all doing, you dummies. they say there are no other groups that would be treat thed way. there would never be a buck wild show in the inner-city or a heavily latino area. is this the case that everybody has to put up with abuse or do some groups get to skate and some groups getting treat thed way it is pretty amazing that we've got a hey, look at all them yokles on tr right now. bill: that is thr- is mrs. bubba to you by the way. the senator goes on, instead of showcasing the beauty and people of our state you prey on young people coax them into displaying shameful behavior and now you are profiting from it, that is just wrong. here is a guy who has a lot of state pride, you know what he's coming from. >> of course he does. look, i did stand up comedy back in the day in wes

, it's powerful! okay. >>> new jersey governor chris christie visited the white house yesterday, making his case to president obama to get more federal aid for victims of hurricane sandy. president obama's expected to ask congress for an additional $50 billion to help states hit by the october storm, but christie says sandy will cost new jersey alone up to $37 billion. new york governor andrew cuomo and new york city mayor michael bloomberg also made similar trips to d.c. recently to push for more federal support. >>> after a delay noted by none other than "the new york times's" maureen dowd, secretary of state hillary clinton is coming to the defense of u.n. ambassador susan rice, calling her a stalwart colleague. rice is seen as a top pick to succeed clinton in the state department, but is under attack by republicans who accuse her of misleading the public in the aftermath of the september 11th attacks at the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> and it's important to remember what susan said was based on the information that had been given to every senior official in our administration, and

space. it's a small surveillance drone. >> cenk: then chris christie. remember how much he hates the government? maybe singing a little different tune today. >> it's because government's now telling them stop dreaming, stop striving. we'll take care of you. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. ... and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv. >> cenk: the middle east is on fire, of course, what else is new, right? first we start in egypt where the new president has time to give himself unchecked powers with no oversight over his additions. tens of thousands of protestors marching on the palace. they've breached blockades barbed wire and it is a mess over there. they say this is the last stand and the last warning. over in syria the government is apparently moving its chemical weapons. now, of course is a red line for nato and the u.s. and even russia is concerned about this, saying if you use chemical weapons, the

. christy alleto is live outside the hospital with the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that prisoner was getting medical attention here at the hospital when he turned on hospital staff and the officer guarding him. >> police cars flood the entrance to the emergency room at university of maryland saint josephs medical center. >> a police officer and the prisoner got into a scuffle. >> it started around 2:30 wednesday afternoon. the officer was guarding a prisoner who had been taken to the er for medical attention. a hospital staffer noticed something wasn't right. >> at some point one of the hospital staff people discover that had the prisoner had a needle of some sort hidden in his clothing. >> the man grabbed a hospital staffer. that's when the officer stepped in and the prisoner tried to gab her run. a struggle end sued and a shot was fired into the wall. >> the officer discharged pepper spray in an attempt to subdue the prisoner. that attempt was unsuccessful. >> hospital officials say thanks to the quick response of the emergency department staff and the security team th

christie. i think that's now -- >> rose: you saw the president being presidential. >> and the conversation was about the storm. it was not about what we were talking about. >> rose: someone said to me that stuart stevens believed from day one until the election night that somehow the election of president obama, re-election would not happen because of the economy. he always believed that that would be the issue that determined the election. was it? >> well, the economy was a very large issue. one of the interesting thing that happened was after the democratic convention which was very successful, i'll credit that. the right track of the country began to go up. and those that thought that the president was doing a good job on the economy went up. part of this is the democrats got energized and they were reminded what they liked about the president. of course president clinton did a good job. and the right track wrong track, he was right track of the country wrong track of the country among the electorates that actually voted was about 20 plus points closer than it was at the be

future. what about chris christie? he was on jon stewart this week. we have a clip. let's show it. it was a funny moment. >> the week before the storm, you were out there, president obama couldn't lead his way out of a paper bag with a fistful of 20s. and then right after the storm was over, you were like, this man is a leader. doesn't that tell you something about the game? what does that tell you about the game? >> what it tells me is people have different skill sets at different times. that's what it does. [ laughter ] >> i see. >> so he wasn't a leader until you needed leadership. >> maybe until he was presented with a stark opportunity to lead. >> chris christie is a very popular politician right now. >> he is on a roll right now. he was on "saturday night live." he was quoting lyrics from springsteen, meet me tonight in atlantic city. he was on "the daily show." this is hilarious. he certainly seems to look the most vibrant of anybody i see on the gop side right now. but it's 2012, david. why are we talking about this so early? >> don't be so cynical. lawrence? >> i don't see ho